Police Find Suspect in Shower After Robbery at Fast-Food Outlet

A suspected armed robber from North Hollywood was caught with more than his pants down Saturday when police officers took him into custody as he stood naked in the shower.

“We just opened the bathroom door and told him he was under arrest,” Officer Ronald Vargas said. “It’s easy to see if somebody’s armed that way.”

According to Vargas, when officers told Michael Angelo Garcia that he was under arrest, he asked incredulously, “Are you kidding?”

To which Vargas said he quipped, “Does it look like we’re kidding?”

After putting on a pair of pants, Garcia, 22, and a 17-year-old juvenile were arrested on suspicion of robbery, Vargas said. Both are North Hollywood residents, but Garcia does not live with the teen-ager’s family.

Officers began a search for the pair shortly after a gunman entered a McDonald’s restaurant in the 8000 block of Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood about 8:15 a.m. and ordered the cashier to open the registers, Vargas said.

The gunman then jumped over the counter and grabbed about $100 from two registers, Vargas said. The robber, identified by witnesses as Garcia, fled the restaurant and jumped once more, this time into the trunk of a blue Oldsmobile, Vargas said.

“It was really strange that he would get into the trunk,” Vargas said. “I don’t know why he did it.”

Whatever the case, officers got a solid lead because witnesses jotted down the Oldsmobile’s license plate number, which had been left uncovered.

“It’s not common to leave a plate number uncovered that’s traceable,” Vargas said.

The car was registered to a man in the 12300 block of Lull Street in North Hollywood, whose description did not match the description of the robbers, Vargas said.

When Officer Ben Meda called the owner of the Oldsmobile to ask if his car had been stolen, the man said it had not been stolen and was safe. His son had taken it for a drive, he explained.

The man’s son did indeed have the car, but he had driven it to the McDonald’s, Vargas said.

The two officers drove to the house on Lull Street, spotted the 17-year-old and arrested him next to the Oldsmobile parked in the driveway. They arrested Garcia in the bathroom a few minutes later.

About $27 of the money taken from the restaurant was recovered, but the gun used in the robbery was not recovered, Vargas said. Garcia, who was being held in lieu of $35,000 bail, confessed to committing several other robberies in the community, Vargas said.